The Fantastic Four: First Steps

It is clear to anyone remotely curious about the brand that the MCU has been in a transitionary period over the past few months. Both Thunderbolts* and The Fantastic Four: First Steps were produced under Marvel Studios’ new directive of focusing on a quality over quantity approach, and with an Avengers movie looming, Marvel has become desperate to try and earn back the trust it has lost with general audiences. The stakes for the performance of an MCU movie haven’t been this high since perhaps the franchise’s birth in 2008. In Thunderbolts*’s case, this resulted in one of the strongest movies they’ve put out during the 2020s. The Fantastic Four: First Steps is similarly competent from a directing standpoint, but unfortunately aggressively safe from a writing one.

To its credit, I like how much this movie is able to get by just on its retro-futuristic aesthetic, to the point where the noticeable lack of action scenes didn’t impede my enjoyment. There is no major purpose for this to be set in the 60s other than to invoke nostalgia, but it is well-executed regardless. The standout sequence of the film comes during the visually incredible chase sequence involving the team’s escape from Galactus and the Silver Surfer. It is especially welcome since the MCU has so often tried to coast by with subpar, rushed visual effects, this was one of the most genuinely cinematic set-pieces the MCU has ever made.

However, the problems arise after the birth of Reed and Sue’s baby, Franklin Richards. The movie hinges its entire emotional core on the love they have for their child and their willingness to risk the fate of the world to save him. It’s a compelling premise on paper, but it rings hollow since it occurs before we become invested in the Fantastic Four both as a team and as individuals. Johnny Storm and especially Ben Grimm are given the short end of the stick here. There is a subplot between Ben and a schoolteacher (Natasha Lyonne) that begins and ends so suddenly that it feels like its only purpose is to ensure that each main cast member “does something”. It is a shame, as I do think this movie is spot on from a casting standpoint. As for the villains, I understand that Galactus is an iconic character from the comics, but neither of his on-screen adaptations have remotely convinced me that he is anything more than a dumb monster. Even Julia Garner’s Silver Surfer was more impressive to me.

Much praise has been given to how much this film works as a standalone film rather than something connected to the MCU, but Franklin once again is an issue here. Almost everything about the child’s existence is something that is promised to be important later, from Galactus’s obsession with him as a successor to his inexplicable ability to revive Sue from the dead to his connection to Robert Downey Jr.’s Doom in the post-credits scene. It adds to this movie’s somewhat hollow emotional centre that the key to the narrative feels like a plot device made to set up another movie.

Overall, even if The Fantastic Four: First Steps may not be a particularly memorable superhero movie, it provides a solid base for sequels to improve on. In terms of visuals, casting, production design, there is nothing technically wrong with this. The writing falls flat at points, but it still has one of the better scripts from an MCU project this decade. Ultimately, it will please the MCU’s hardcore fanbase, but anyone with superhero fatigue will most likely fail to find anything of interest here.

6/10